v_ 



THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, 
THE SOURCES OF ITS POWER AND ITS SUCCESS 



AN ADDRESS 



DELIVERED AT THE 



> 



ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT 



OF THE 



UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 

JUNE 25, t896 



By CHARLES KENDALL ADAMS, LL.D. 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 



ANN ARBOR, MICH. 
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY 
1896 



/ 




8^6 



COURIER PRINTING AND PUBLISHING HOUSE. 
ANN ARBOR, MPCHIGAN. 



THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, 
The Sources of Its Power and Its Success. 



Mr. President, Fellow Graduates, Ladies and Gentlemen : 

I know ilbt whether the copious streams of oratory that yester- 
day gushed out trom so many quarters may not have filled you to 
the point of saturation, and whether, consequently, any speech of 
mine on the subject of this University may not run the risk of 
raising the general current into what you will regard as an inunda- 
tion or a deluge. Upon the speaker who comes last at such an 
academic celebration, I think the audience is always inclined to 
invoke the Horatian malediction, ^^ scabies extremum occupet;''' but I 
beg to remind you that, for what took place here yesterday, I have 
no responsibility whatever. I could prove an alibi. While on this 
platform and elsewhere on these grounds the multiform processes of 
congratulation were going on, I was devoting myself assiduously to 
other matters in another State. I may perhaps venture to say that 
I was doing my best to prove, that, if Wisconsin cannot defeat 
Michigan in one way, she can m another. It gives me pleasure to 
announce that, as a result of this effort, we have broken one of 
Michigan's records, and have succeeded in bringing our graduating 
classes up to Commencement on Wednesday instead of Thursday. 
If, in the past, you have not had your share of the beneficent disci- 
pline of defeat, I have no doubt that, before the hour is past, you 
will be ready to insist that you have had more than enough. But, 
however severe your punishment may be, the blame is not altogether 
mine. After all the words of commendation that were uttered yes- 
terday, it may be a relief to find something in which President 
Angell has made a mistake. It is said that the Greeks banished one 
of their greatest men because they were tired of hearing his praises. 



— 4 — 

Perhaps it is for a kindred reason that in those who are thought to 
be absolutely perfect, we sometimes enjoy finding a redeeming fault; 
and perhaps, therefore, you will be pleased to learn that the President 
declared with irresistible persuasiveness that if I did not arrange to 
come, he would never again have a twenty-fifth anniversary. 

There are certain. days that lay their imperial commands upon 
us; and such days are the ones which we now celebrate. Just 
twenty-five years ago this very hour, the new President stood before 
our Commencement audience, much smaller indeed, but still a kind 
of childhood of the maturity we see here today. Without a scrap 
of paper or a note, and without having written a word? he surprised 
and delighted us with the beauty, the cogency, and the earnestness 
of his inaugural address. When I recall what he then said and the 
various phases of advancement the University has made since that 
day, finding all other subjects crowded out of my mind, I yield to 
the persuasive influence of these associations, and submit to the risk 
of repeating much that already may have been said. 

What magnificent advancement there has been! The eleven 
hundred students have so commended the institution that more than 
three thousand have come back to fill their places; the thirty-five 
teachers have made room for one hundred and seventy-eight, and 
the limp little catalogue of eighty-four pages has grown into a stout 
volume of three hundred and thirty-six. The elms and the maples 
that now so beautifully shade the grounds were then saplings that 
had been planted only thirteen years before in a general outburst of 
enthusiasm for an arbor day engendered by the youthful zeal of Pro- 
fessor Andrew D. White, who had but recently arrived, and who had 
probably never before seen a campus without trees. There then 
stood upon the grounds the two wings of University Hall, as separate 
buildings; the older half of the Law Building, the old Medical 
College Building, the beginning of the Chemical Laboratory, and 
the four professors' houses. Since that day, have arisen, one after 
another, the University Hall, including the rise and fall of the Uni- 
versity dome; the Museum, with its sad architectural experiences 
within and without; the hospitals, destined, it was said, to be burned 
for sanitary reasons, at least once in ten years; the building for 



— 5 — 

Mechanical Engineering; the Physical Laboratory; the Anatomical 
Laboratory; the two buildings for heating plants; the Library 
Building; the Tappan Hall; the Gymnasium; the enlargement of 
the Law Building; the enlargement of the Engineering Building; 
and the repeated enlargements of the Chemical Laboratory. Other 
Universities have made larger expenditures, but it may safely be said 
that no one has erected or enlarged so many buildings, or enclosed 
so much of the space of heaven for the money. 

The ingenuity of the dear mother during this period has been 
sorely taxed. So faithfully has she obeyed the Scriptural injunction 
to increase and multiply, that she has not only required new clothes 
for her new children, but she has had to turn over the old garments 
from one child to another, taking in a tuck here, letting out a seam 
there, setting a patch on the part that is most worn, and putting in 
supports where there have been signs of giving way. The result has 
been an educational wardrobe of great usefulness, even if it has not 
always been in accord with the latest fashion. But fashion every- 
where seems to be the prerogative of small families. The necessities 
of this very rapid growth remind one of the necessities of Fred- 
erick William L You remember that when some benevolent ladies 
presented him with a gorgeous dressing gown, the old king stuffed it 
in the stove, declaring that ''he had no use for anything but useful 
duffel." Surely the University has not been tempted to imitate this 
royal example by burning any costly gift, but something of his spirit 
has been an ever present necessity. The State would not have her 
sons and daughters sent away for want of shelter; nor would she 
have them packed like sardines in the old boxes. With the means 
at the disposal of the University, the problem has been the mathe- 
matical one of determining how to enclose the largest possible 
amount of space with the smallest possible amount of money. 

But our chief cause of pride in the University is not in the fact 
that the buildings have been multiplied, or that the number of 
students has advanced from eleven hundred to three thousand, or 
that the staff of instruction has increased by more than five fold. 
Judged by any such standard, the Egyptian University at Cairo 
might beat us all. The foremost reasons for being proud of any 



University are the elevating and inspiring power of its instruction, 
the character of the men and women it equips for life, and the 
influence it exerts on society and on other institutions. You will 
perhaps recall that in saying this, I only echo what was so admirably 
urged by the President in his inaugural address, twenty-five years 
ago. The claim of the University upon our respect and admiration 
today, is to be measured by the standards proclaimed when Dr. 
Angell was inaugurated. What could be wiser than these words: 
"As the soul of the nation is in the spirit of the people rather than 
in the words of their constitution, so the soul of the University is 
in the men who compose it, rather than in the plan of its organiza- 
tion." "If it is to have the highest success," he continues, "it 
must be able to command the services of the choicest teachers and 
to remunerate them so that they can give their best vigor to their 
professional work." And again, "When will even good men learn 
that to endow a University with brains and heart, and not alone 
with bricks and mortar, is the part of true wisdom?" "The ideal 
teacher," he continues in words which might well be carved upon 
the walls of every normal school and every pedagogical seminary in 
the land, " The ideal teacher is a rare man, for whose coming, when 
he is come, the University and the State should give thanks." 

Such a spirit could not fail to exert a moulding and inspiring 
influence on other institutions. In sending into all parts of this 
western world thousands of children endowed with some measure of 
this spirit, these halls have been a kind of incunabula genUum from 
which hundreds of schools and colleges have recruited their ideals 
and their strength. 

It has long been known that all the State Universities west of us 
have either been modeled after this institution or at least have been 
very greatly influenced by it. What this influence has been in the 
East has not been so well understood. Old students will remember 
that Guizot, in claiming superiority for French civilization over all 
others, remarked that a new idea, in order to get general currency 
in Europe, must first pass successfully the ordeal of favor in France. 
It is certainly not unnatural that the older Universities should look 
with a similar spirit upon the precocious and perhaps audacious edu- 



— 7 — 

cational enterprise of the younger members of the family. But 
natural and justifiable as such a spirit may be, the East will, I am 
sure, indulge the audacious West in a conjecture that when the 
western Lowell becomes full grown, he may be tempted to imitate 
his Eastern name-sake, and write something "On a Certain Con- 
descension towards Western Universities." 

Yet the West has no cause to complain. The institutions of 
the East are willing to take a large share of their best scholars, as 
well as their best athletes, from the West, and they sometimes even 
succeed in beguiling a favorite son of a Western University to exile 
himself to one of their professor's chairs. It would be interesting 
to know how large a proportion of the best students and the most 
successful professors of Harvard, and Yale, and Johns Hopkins, and 
Princeton, are from the region west of the AUeghanies. It is not 
the old countries that are the countries of invention, nor is it gen- 
erally the old institutions of learning that are most ready to attempt 
innovations. One of the normal methods of advance seems to be 
for the University of Michigan to devise some new educational 
variation, or to return to some old European standard, and then, 
after it has demonstrated its success, pass it through Harvard, as 
civilization is passed through France. It can then be proclaimed as 
the ripe fruit of the oldest and most, renowned of American Uni- 
versities. We shall have no occasion for surprise when the Michigan 
diploma system and the Michigan marking system, or rather the Mich- 
igan absence of a marking system, founded as they both are upon the 
best European experiences, are universally adopted by the older 
colleges and universities. They seem about ready to join the long 
procession of reforms which have marched from the West to the 
East, and then, with the benedictions of the East upon them, have 
been adopted as the right thing for the whole country. 

When we ask ourselves what have been the causes of this great 
success and this great influence, we shall find ourselves compelled 
to give a variety of answers. It seldom happens that any great 
institution is the result of less than many powers and influences. 
The sails of this University have been filled with many of the favor- 
ing winds of heaven, and yet it seems to me that we may point out a 



few great currents which, moving together, have been strong enough 
of themselves to bear it forward toward its phenomenal achievements. 

I. The first of these was its exceptionally fortunate early 
organization. 

It is not my purpose to repeat what was so admirably described 
in the President's Memorial Oration in 1887; ^^^ Y^^ there were 
certain features of the early history of the University which must 
always be regarded as among the most potent causes of all subse- 
quent success. It would be difficult to point out a more interesting 
example of the power which a great book sometimes exerts, than 
that which was exerted on the early history of this University by 
Cousin's Famous Report on the Prussian System of Education. 
When that remarkable work fell into the hands of Gary, and then 
of Pierce, it so wrought upon their minds that they not only formu- 
lated the ideals, but when Pierce became Superintendent, he set 
them forth in his first Report with such power that they were adopted 
as the model after which the educational structure was to be reared. 
It was of unspeakable advantage to the State that this ideal was 
adopted at the very first, and was persistently followed throughout 
the formative period. 

Then, too, the State was exceptionally fortunate in the manage- 
ment of its University lands. Of all the states framed from the 
Northwest Territory, Michigan was the only one that adopted a def- 
inite policy of treating the University lands received from Congress, 
in the interest of the far future, as well as the present. Though we 
may not say that the management of these lands was faultless, yet it 
is still true that the income from this source has been far greater 
than the income from similar lands in the neighboring states. The 
consequence of this good management was, that the University, for 
thirty years, was not only independent of legislative appropriations, 
but was able, very early in its history, to offer inducements that 
attracted some of the foremost scholars in the land. When the 
University was fifteen years old its treasury had an independent 
income of about forty thousand dollars a year. The importance of 
this condition may be inferred from the fact that when the Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin was of the same age, its income was less than six 



— 9 — 

thousand dollars a year; and this difference existed, notvvithstandinj^ 
the fact that the Congressional University Land (rrant to Wisconsin 
was twice as large as that which had been given to Michigan. What 
niight be called the Michigan method of treating the lands yielded 
about five times as much per acre as did the Wisconsin method. 

But the advantage of Michigan was not merely in the matter of 
independence. There were also the elements of priority and of good 
management. It was all these fortunate conditions acting harmoni- 
ously together, that were able at once to presage the future, and to 
lay out and build those broad and strong foundations upon which 
alone could be reared the great edifice we now so much love and 
admire. Even then, the true elements of greatness seemed to be 
understood, for before it was twenty-five years old it had brought 
together in its faculties such men as Frieze, and Boise, and White, 
and Winchell, and Briinnow, and Watson, and Ford, and Gunn, and 
Palmer, and Cooley, and Campbell, and Walker. 

Of this proud galaxy, only White and Cooley remain, and we had 
hoped to have both of them here with us today. One of them — 
magmim ei clarissimum nonien — crowned with the honors of learning, 
and administration, and diplomacy, and recently called to a most 
delicate commission of international importance, hoped to leave his 
difficult work, in order to visit once more the scene of his early 
labors, and enthusiasms, and triumphs. The other, after winning 
recognition on every bench, and at every bar in the country, as one 
of the foremost jurists and interpreters of constitutional law of the 
century, is here, still to inspire the admiration and affection of 
thousands of pupils and friends. 

In how many hundreds of souls have White and Cooley and 
their colleagues kindled that fire of contagious enthusiasm, which 
not only modifies the aspirations of the whole being, but also, in 
going from one to another, benefits and enlightens our institutions 
and even our civilization. 

II. Another element which has contributed very greatly to the 
success of this University has been the fortunate organization, and 
the consequent general intelligence, discrimination, and devotion 
of the Board of Regents. I have no doubt that this element has 



— lO — 

played a much greater part in the success of the University, than 
has sometimes been supposed. Professors, elsewhere, if not here, 
have been heard facetiously to remark that when they become rich, 
and endow a University, they will have neither Regents nor Trustees. 
The threat would be an innocent one, even if it were serious, because 
they will never become rich. But the humor has reason enough in 
experience to give it flavor. The common impression that our leg- 
islatures everywhere tend toward over-legislation, is not without 
some justification. If, in the legislative body of some of our uni- 
versities, the propensity to precipitate action is not less marked, the 
tendency in this direction is easily accounted for. In some of the 
states. Regents or Trustees have been appointed or elected without 
very obvious regard to those peculiar qualifications that are called 
for by this high and responsible office. Ignorance is always a usurper, 

. and ignorance in power invariably tries to correct errors, real or 
fancied, by immediate, and consequently, precipitate legislation. 
So it has often happened, especially in new institutions, that there 
has been a deplorable lack of that moderate and judicial wisdom 
which is so absolutely essential to the development of a large educa- 
tional efficiency. Nothing is more clearly wrought out by the history 
of education than the fact that there must be as little interference 
as possible both by the staff of instruction with the business affairs 

I of the institution, and by the Regents with the work of instruction. 
However profound and comprehensive the knowledge of a professor 
in his department may be, that knowledge does not necessarily in any 
way give him the comprehensiveness of view that is called for by the 
symmetrical development of the University as a whole. Nor is this 
comprehensiveness likely to be possessed, at first, either by the 
alumni-regent or the regent chosen chiefly for his business capacity 
and success. It comes only by observation and familiarity. The 
alumnus is likely to come to this position with an ardent belief that 
some particular feature should be established, or that some particular 
wrong should be corrected, and he sometimes, even when he enters 
upon his duties, has his mind already made up as to the way in 
which the reforms he advocates should be brought about. Perhaps 
it may be said that the most marked difference between the typical 



alumni-regent and what may be called the typical business-regent is 
in the fact that the alumnus comes to his post with a partial, but a 
very ardent knowledge of his duties, feeling some confidence that he 
understands them all, while the typical business-regent comes to his 
position with no knowledge on the subject whatever but fully con- 
scious of his ignorance. The one inevitably is in danger of taking 
advice of his prejudices, while the other is necessarily obliged to 
become acquainted with his new vocation by the ordinary waiting 
method of long study and observation. Sometimes a little knowl- 
edge is a more dangerous thing than no knowledge at all. Hence, it 
is easy to see why the alumnus sometimes disappoints, while the bus- 
iness-regent often becomes one of the most useful members of the 
Board. In the history of this University one has .only to recall the 
names of those who may be called its business-regents to acknowl- 
edge the debt the University owes to that kind of discriminating 
judgment, which while insisting upon keeping the finances well in 
hand, leaves the more technical features of education and discipline 
to the experts employed for strictly educational purposes. Expe- 
rience shows plainly enough that that University is best managed 
and administered in which the functions of the Regents are most 
completely separated from the functions of the staff of instruction. 
It ought perhaps to be said that the most dangerous encroach- 
ments upon this principle do not consist in open incursions of one 
body into the domain of the other. For obvious reasons, the 
members of the faculty seldom encroach upon the financial manage- 
ment of the Regents; nor do the Regents often determine what, or 
how much of a given subject shall be taught; but there are less 
open methods that are as mischievous as they are insidious and 
ingenious. There are, of course, scores of people about every large 
institution who do not have all they want; and trouble is sure to 
begin as soon as these people, either aspirants or malcontents, find 
the open and welcome ear of a Regent into which they may pour their 
claims and cornplaints. I have been assured by the distinguished 
President of Johns Hopkins University that when he was invited to 
the work of organizing that institution, prompted by his experience 
in another University, he made it one of the conditions of his 



12 

acceptance, that all communications of a professional nature, 
between the Regents, on the one hand, and the members of the 
staff of instruction and the students, on the other, should be made 
through the President of the University. This requirement resulted 
in the only statute that is annually published in the Johns Hopkins 
Register. It states in substance that the President of the Univer- 
sity is the authorized means of communication between the various 
officers of instruction and the Trustees. Thus all members of the 
staff are given to understand that all communications to the Board 
are to be made through that officer. 

This policy is so different from that which sometimes prevails, 
that it is worthy of very careful note. The mistakes made generally 
by governing boards arise through hasty consideration and insuf- 
ficient knowledge. A president is, of course, out of place, if he is 
not regarded as an educational expert. Professors are experts in 
their own specialties; but it is no disparagement of their services 
to say that they are not necessarily experts in that more general 
work of co-ordinating all the forces of the University. The very 
fact that a professor's work has to do with only one of the subjects 
taught in the University, makes his view more or less partial. He 
should certainly have opportunity to make his wants and his opin- 
ions known, and, within the scope of his department, he should 
have the largest practicable liberty; but all that range of concrete 
questions as to how much is to be expended on his particular 
department, affects not that department alone, but all other depart- 
ments in the University; and therefore all questions of this nature 
should be acted upon by the Board, only after they have received 
the careful consideration of that officer who has been chosen to 
advise and assist the Regents in regard to the interests of the Uni- 
versity as a whole. 

Disregard of this consideration is not infrequent, but it is 
always fraught with more or less of danger. This danger — I had 
almost said this peiil — is especially serious when the*ears of indi- 
vidual Regents are open to the pleas of individual officers. Regents 
should hear impartially all sides of every important question, before 
they decide it; and therefore there is a strong analogy between the 



—13— 

attitude of a Regent who has listened to the private advocacy of a 
cause and that of a judge or juror who has been tampered with 
before the public hearing. I have often wondered how much of the 
prosperity of this University is owing to the fact that in the course 
of the last forty years, only three of. its Regents have resided in Ann 
Arbor. Happy administration of twenty-five years! Why, many a 
young institution otherwise organized, can wear out the usefulness or 
the patience of a president in a quarter of that time! What other 
State University is there that has had only at the rate of three 
Presidents in the first forty-eight years of its history? 

The judicial attitude that is required of a Board of Regents is 
greatly increased by long terms of service, especially if the method 
of appointment affords a reasonable guarantee that wise men will 
reach the position. In many of the newer universities the term is so 
short that it is impossible for the new Regent to do more than 
become familiar with the nature of his duties, before his term of 
office expires. When there is no alternative except either to act 
in ignorance, or not to act at all, the result is sure to be precipitate, 
and is almost as likely to be wrong as right. I have known the most 
important matter brought before a Board of Regents for years, 
decided by the casting vote of a young alumnus who had just taken 
his seat, and who had made up his mind in advance, not after a gen- 
eral discussion, but on a strictly ex parte presentaT:ion of the case. 

Now, it has, no doubt, been one of the most fortunate facts 
in the history of this University that it has been subject to very few 
inconveniences from the dangers to \vhich I have alluded. 

That the University has altogether escaped such dangers will 
not be claimed by any of those who were here twenty years ago. 
Those very elements of stability of which I am speaking were enough 
to prevent what might very easily have been an era of catastrophism 
in an institution less fortunately organized. 

The fact that the Regents are chosen for a term of eight years, 
and that they have often been re-elected, has given the Board a 
peculiar stability and strength. Their nomination by the same con- 
vention that nominates the Justices of the Supreme Court has had 
an unmistakable tendency to diminish objectionable political con 



— 14— 

siderations, and to secure the right type of man for the position. 
The fact that they are chosen from the State at large, and not from 
Congressional or Judicial Districts, has left the convention free to 
nominate the best men in whatever part of the state they may be 
found. It has been because of these fortunate peculiarities in the 
organization of the Board, that the Regents of this University have 
been able to contribute so much to its success. It is no disparage- 
ment of the work of the able and devoted professors by whom the 
University has been so faithfully served, to call attention to the 
exceptional services that have been rendered by the long line of wise 
and faithful Regents that have been brought to the control of its 
affairs. When one remembers the intelligence, the devotion, and 
the wisdom, with which Johnson, and Willard, and Baxter, and 
Grosvenor, and Blair, and Walker, and Gilbert, and others like 
them, each for sixteen years, gave their discriminating energies to 
the upbuilding of the University, one cannot hesitate to declare one's 
belief that, to their services and the services of men like them, has 
been due a very large part of the prosperity and the success of the 
University. In any new institution, the method of choosing the 
Board of Regents is a matter of the very first importance. 

III. Another great element of success in the history of this 
University during the past twenty-five years has been the general 
policy of the President. 

Dr. Angell brought to his new position no love for startling 
and sensational innovations. His temperament, no less than his 
training and observations, at home and abroad, had convinced him 
that the best of w^hat exists today is always but a development of 
something that existed yesterday. His has been the spirit that was 
embodied in the maxim of Publius Syrus: 

" Discipulus est prioris posterior dies." 

Institutions are successfully developed after the analogies of 
organic life. As you may bend a tree and so correct its deformities, 
as you may cut away dead and unpromising branches and thus throw 
additional vigor and symmetry into other parts, while the plant lives 
with its nature essentially unchanged, so with institutions formed for 
the purposes of education, it will generally be found that the most 



—15— 

comprehensively successful have been those which have been devel- 
oped along the lines that were early projected. The president him- 
self graphically showed in his masterly oration at the celebration 
nine years ago that the best educational thought of the old world, as 
well as the new, was placed under contribution, in laying out the plans 
and devising the general scheme of the University at its very begin- 
ning. This was in perfect accord with the thought of President 
Tappan; for when that great organizer came to the work fifteen 
years after the University was founded, he said in his inaugural 
address that the most important and significant part of his labors 
would be to elaborate and put into concrete form the ideas which 
had been so striking a feature of the first Report of Superintendent 
Pierce in 1837. During the administrations of President Haven 
and Acting-President Frieze, the same policy of development was 
pursued, and \vhen President Angell came, the plant had already 
attained such size, and was throwing out such vigorous shoots in 
every direction, that the most important part of his work was to 
supply the roots with the proper nourishment, and the branches 
and leaves and fruit with the air and sunshine of popular apprecia- 
tion and approval. 

In view of these necessities it was peculiarly fortunate that the 
new President brought to his work no purposes of revolution. It 
was only four years before his inauguration, that the legislature had 
made its first appropriation for the University. There were already 
gathered upon the grounds more than eleven hundred students; but 
there were neither buildings enough to shelter the classes, nor teach- 
ers enough to give them instruction. What was called for, first of 
all, was the creation and dissemination of an appreciative public 
opinion that would produce in some way or other the means neces- 
sary for the adequate support of the University. He at once gave 
emphasis to the traditional policy of the University that places its 
reliance upon the eminence of its men, and the superiority of its 
equipment, rather than upon the architecture of its buildings. But 
he evidently did not think that Mr. Garfield's oft quoted remark 
about the best college was quite complete. Mark Hopkins at one 
end of a table, and a student at the other, does not quite consti- 



— 16— 

tute a good college. It needs in addition, at least a pencil -and 
a slate. Let us be candid, and say that in modern times we can no 
more have a University with men and shelter alone, however great 
the men, and however magnificent the shelter, than we can have a 
railroad made up simply of a track and a supply of engine houses. 
To say that a large and costly equipment is absolutely indispensable, 
is now like saying that air and light are necessary to the health of 
the body. Science lives in the laboratory, and, if it is not insatia- 
ble in its appetite, at least it refuses to thrive without large supplies. 
How can we have even history or literature or philosophy without 
the books in which the vast materials of these subjects are stored? 
The most difficult work in the upbuilding of a great university is 
that which involves the harmonious and satisfactory adjustment of 
all these conflicting demands; and the success of President Angell's 
policy has been largely in the fact that he has encouraged the putting 
of the largest practical amount of the money at hand into men and 
equipment, and the smallest practical amount into buildings. 

This policy has yielded abundant fruit of many kinds. It has 
contributed much to the content and enthusiasm of the officers of 
, instruction. The average professor will clamor more loudly for 
an increase of equipment than he will for an increase of salary. 
Hence President Angell's policy has done much to assist in the 
establishment of the healthful tradition, in vogue, at least in my 
day, that nobody ever left the University without wishing himself 
back again. More and better than all that, it has put an enthusiasm 
into the class-room that has taken possession of the students and 
carried them in such numbers into the halls of legislatures, into 
the seats of judges, into important educational chairs, and into so 
many positions of great and commanding influence in all parts of 
the land. 

x\nother feature of the President's policy has been his method 
of educational leadership. To lead successfully, it is not more 
necessary to be in advance, than it is to be not too far in advance. 
President Angell, in all the great and important changes that have 
occurred, has taken good care not to move, or encourage others to 
move, until he was sure that the whole institution could be counted 



upon for moral support. His course has resembled that of Lincoln, 
which enabled that great political leader to withstand the 'V/z;//^/« 
ardor prava jubcNtium^^^ and finally made it possible for him to 
collect and to wield all the forces of the country in the common 
movement. He has had something of the spirit which Franklin 
expressed, when he remarked, as they were signing the Declaration 
of Independence, '* Now, we must all hang together, or we shall 
hang separately." Not only that, but he has understood, perhaps 
better than any other University President in the country how to keep 
the wheels of the University in motion, without friction, by the 
deft use of an inexhaustible fund of conciliatory good nature, which 
in the wearing motions of human machinery is the best of all materi- 
als for lubrication. Under the inspiration of this guiding spirit the 
forces of the University have been kept well together. If the walls 
of the President's room, the scene of so many battles royal in 
Regents' meetings, and Faculty meetings, could give out on this 
anniversary day, through some Edison process, the educational ideas 
that have there been promulgated, what a medley of wisdom and 
folly would be the revelation! In that winnowing room the chaff of 
educational innovations has been vigorously, but patiently, and dis- 
criminately separated from the grain. The treadmill has been 
patiently trodden by professors for long hours on many a Monday 
night. A vast amount of dust has been raised, and a vast amount 
of chaff had to be blown away; but the President always stood it 
bravely, and the result was beneficial. If mistakes were made, cor- 
rection followed close upon the heels of error. Tracks leading in 
the wrong direction were covered with remarkable ingenuity and 
skill. 

Probably the most important innovation made in the depart- 
ment of literature, science, and the arts, during this administration, 
has been the expansion of the elective system. Up to the time of 
the important action in 1878 every student in the department was 
required to survive or perish within the sacred enclosures of his own 
class. Some of us felt that larger liberties should be allowed, and 
that the greater freedom of election called for might be safely per- 
mitted. I remember, horresco referens, that I inflicted on the faculty 



in this discussion the longest speech I ever made on these grounds. 
Perhaps the faculty thought the motion must be passed in" self 
defense, and so adopted it from prudential considerations. Be that 
as it may, the action taken was far more radical than at first had 
been contemplated. The reform quite swept away the reformers in 
the avalanche that followed. It used to be said in this state that 
Senator Chandler in 1859-60 asked the clergy to pray with all pos- 
sible fervor that Chief Justice Taney might live through Buchanan's 
administration, in order that the appointment of a successor might 
fall to President Lincoln. When Taney threatened to outlive Lin- 
coln the jealous Senator chided the clergymen '* because," as he 
said, "they had overdone the business." Some of us had a kindred 
feeling in regard to our reform; but the resources of the President 
and Faculty were adequate to the situation. Though the scheme 
threw down every barrier between freshmen and seniors, it was found 
possible so to repair this disastrous innovation, that the student 
would still believe that he could elect what he pleased, while the 
faculty knew that he could elect only what the faculty pleased. The 
skill with which this devastating movement was gradually arrested 
by quietly slipping up one bar after another, is one of the monu- 
ments of educational ingenuity. The University got the credit of 
throwing down all the bars, and the prospective student beheld the 
alluring and thrilling possibility of being able to associate with 
seniors even on his first arrival. The whole moveinent, which, at 
first, took away the breath of the original movers, and made them 
gasp with apprehension, turned out to be as successful as could have 
been wished. 

Not only was the number of students in the department greatly 
increased, but what was of perhaps greater importance, a new enthu- 
siasm was put into all the classes. If this new door opened some- 
what greater possibilities of neglect, even if a somewhat larger 
proportion of ignorance escaped with a degree, the fact is only 
another illustration of the characteristic of liberty everywhere. The 
disadvantages were far more than counterbalanced by the larger 
incentives and opportunities opened for ability and fidelity. The 
law of compensation seems to provide that the very liberty which 



— 19— 

stiiimlates effort and opens the possibility of greatness, opens also 
the door to negligence and weakness. Every such movement must 
be judged in the light of the great fact that the power and even the 
reputation of an institution is measured, not by its poorest, but by its 
best. And it is for this reason that a large amount of liberty is as 
necessary in higher education as in social and political life. In both 
spheres alike, liberty is to be judged not by the possibility of the 
most frequent abuse, but by the possibility of the largest success. 

Another characteristic of what may be called the method of 
the present administration, has been the dominant opinion that its 
real merit is indicated, not by the numbers in attendance, but by 
the power, the excellence, and the amount of instruction given. The 
institution has been remarkably free from factitious methods of 
attracting public attention. I believe we may say of it, as one of 
the most famous of the Athenian orators said of Athens, that great as 
its fame has been, its reputation has been exceeded by its merits. Its 
history has shown, especially in the development of the professional 
schools, that the American youth are ready to respond with glad 
hearts to every reasonable increase of the requirements for gradua- 
tion. An llustration of this fact is afforded by the growth of the 
School of Medicine. The whole course of this department has 
shown, that what the intellectual appetites of the students of this 
region desire, is the best possible instruction in very large amounts. 
It is noteworthy, that the various extensions of the course, first 
from two years of six months each, to two years of nine months, 
then to three years, and finally to four years, have all received a 
remarkable justification and approval, by the students, as well as by 
the public at large. It is one of the especial causes of pride that this 
school has ever been among the earliest of American medical col- 
leges to push its requirements to the very front of those of its col- 
leagues. The great excellence and the large amount of instruction 
given have been enough, and more than enough, to insure its unin- 
terrupted prosperity and success. 

The same general methods and results have been characteristic 
of the department of Dentistry; and, if the department of law may 
at first glance seem to be exceptional, I believe it has been constantly 



20 

improving in its methods and efficiency, and that its phenomenal 
growth has been in consequence of the public confidence in this 
improvement. 

IV. But I must hasten to consider, very briefly, the fourth, and 
the last, of the great influences that seem to have brought success to 
the University; I mean the attitude of the State. 

It was in consequence of the wise administration of the Land 
Grant by the early State officials that the University, as I have 
already pointed out, was able to thrive for thirty years, without aid 
from taxation, and even to achieve phenomenal success. When in 
1867 the first legislative appropriation was made, the University 
already had 1265 students. The alumni had already proceeded far in 
that process of colonization which was so soon to yield a powerful 
and beneficent influence in all the cities and villages 'of the State. 
Within a year after the admission of the State to the Union the 
legislature loaned the University $100,000 for the erection of the 
first building, and provided methods by which the payment of the 
interest and principal of this loan could be made, by the application 
of credits for salt lands sold, without encroaching upon the normal 
income of the institution or the treasury of the state. It is now 
known that, in the year 1852, the debt had been paid; but it is a 
curious commentary on the spirit of the legislature, that, notwith- 
standing this liquidation of the debt, it continued regularly, as an 
act of educational appreciation, to remit the interest until 1859. 
Neither the legislature nor the Board of Regents seemed to know 
that the credits provided for in the original act had completely paid 
both the interest and the principal. 

The first grant of $15,000 in the year 1867 was not immedi- 
ately available because of a condition which the Regents decided 
they could not accept without permanent injury to the University. 
The condition, however, was removed in 1869, when an appropria- 
tion was also made for University Hall. 

When President Angell's happy administration began in 187 1, 
the entire income of the University, exclusive of that for buildings 
and improvements, amounted to only $83,000 a year. President 
Angell's first appeal to the legislature was one that could not be 



resisted. In 1873, two years later, the appropriation was made per- 
ujanent and increased by the adoption of a one-twentieth of a mill 
tax. This yielded from the first more than $31,000 a year. In 1875 
the legislature provided $6,000 a year for the School of Homeo- 
pathic Medicine, $3,000 for the School of Dentistry, and $26,000 
for other specific purposes. 

But let us not dwell upon figures in detail, which as Dr. John- 
son said of names, 'are non-conductors of thought,' but limit our- 
selves to the remark that after the grant of 1875 had been made, 
the income of the University, according to the Treasurer's Report 
for that year, had been increased to $118,905. 

But even these additional grants can hardly be said to have 
afforded the much needed relief. The act of 1875 provided chiefly 
for the establishment of new departments, and not for the adequate 
support of those already established. The President and the Board 
had to devote an undue amount of energy to devising how fifty cents 
could be made to do the work of a dollar. The demand could not 
be met except by the exercise of rare financial skill. There were 
some favoring conditions. The State Universities south and west 
of Michigan had not advanced so far as in any sense to play the 
part of rivals. The superiority of Michigan was so universally con- 
ceded, that all enterprising students in the West wanted to go to 
Ann Arbor, as the good people of New York and Boston, are said 
to want, when they die, to go to London and Paris. Advantage was 
taken of the great influx of students to increase the income of the 
University by the frequent advances of fees. How far this method 
succeeded is shown by the fact that while the income from the fees 
in 1879 was only $29,000, in 1895 it had increased to $141,888, 

Perhaps attention ought to be called to another source of 
income, or, perhaps I should say, a particular phase of this same 
source. The excellence of the instruction and the great reputation 
of the Law School caused it to be the most numerously attended 
school of the kind in the country. The fees of the law students 
were not only enough to support the School, but enough to furnish 
a very considerable annual surplus for the assistance of the other 
departments. I suppose it is an unquestionable fact, that but from 



22 

the income from this source, it would have been impossible, with- 
out much larger legislative appropriations, to have given the other 
departments the prosperity they have enjoyed. 

The legislature has generously made such appropriations as 
were greatly needed for new buildings. There is nothing for which 
the American people appropriate money so liberally, as for what 
they sometimes call "temples of learning." If they have not been 
equally appreciative of the most approved apparatus, and of the 
most skillful methods, and the most gifted teachers, it has been 
because the necessities in these directions have not made so loud or 
so impressive an appeal. This State has been no exception to the 
general rule. From 1875 to 1893 occasional appropriations for the 
Library and for other needed equipment were granted, but until 
1893, no provision was made for increasing the general treasury in 
such a way that moneys could be applied where they were most 
needed. For all these multitudinous demands, the only source of 
supply has been the increase from fees of students, and from the 
slight increment in the proceeds of the Law of 1873. 

It would be unjust to say that the State has not been liberal 
with the University; and yet it can very confidently be asserted that 
the University has given back to the State a hundred fold for every 
dollar it has received. At the Semi-Centennial Celebration there 
was nothing more impressive than the statement made by the Pres- 
ident of one of the other large universities, that it was for its Uni- 
versity that Michigan was chiefly known in other parts of the 
country. And so it is to-day. You can boast, with a justifiable 
pride, of your lumber, of your copper, of your iron, of your salt, of 
your, gypsum, and of your coal, but after all, it is your University 
that is everywhere recognized as the crown and glory of the State. 
But this pre-eminence is not self-sustaining. Palermo, and 
Bologna, and Cologne, once the glory of Italy and Germany, have 
been overshadowed by the universities at Rome, at Bonn, and at 
Berlin. While Oxford, and Cambridge, and Paris, and Vienna, 
by reason of their abundant resources, continue to extend their 
influence beyond national boundaries, it is a striking and instructive 
fact, that the largest and perhaps the most influential University in 



/ 



— 23— 



Europe has not yet celebrated its centennial anniversary. It is amply 
demonstrated that age gives no continuing guarantee of pre-emi- 
nence. Charlottenburg, founded as a technical university, since the 
Franco-German War, has already some 4,000 students. The little 
Swiss canton of Zurich within the last twenty-five years has built and 
equipped the largest and most costly laboratories in the world. 
Berlin has outrun the other universities of Germany, for no other 
reason than because it has been furnished with more abundant 
means, and consequently has been able to command the services of 
the ablest men, and the largest material equipment. To a university 
with such men as Niebuhr, and Ranke, and Virchow, and Helmholz, 
and Koch, age is in no sense a necessity. 

The University is surrounded by institutions that are emulating 
its successful example. They are supported by people as generous 
as they are enterprising. They see what you have been able to do, 
and they will not be satisfied with a smaller accomplishment. The 
state which is blest with the largest measure of educational generos- 
ity will in the end outrun the others. It was recently a significant 
saying of the Governor of one of the neighboring states, that the 
University in which he was speaking was endowed with the hearts of 
two millions of people. Happy indeed is the University that can 
boast of such an endowment! The educational motto of the time 
is " Forward." The universities and even the colleges everywhere 
are no longer content with appointing teachers who have just gradu- 
ated, but are demanding scholars that have had an elaborate course 
of graduate study, either in this country, or in Europe. The result 
has been the most striking feature of modern educational progress. 
Ten years ago the five most prominent universities in the country 
had less than four hundred graduate students; but last year the 
aggregate number was more than two thousand. Thus, for the first 
time in the history of our country, we are coming to have real uni- 
versities. Heretofore, even our largest institutions have been hardly 
more than groups of colleges. But now, university work, in the 
truest and broadest sense of the term, has to be provided for. This 
movement carries with it an imperative demand for additional men 
and for additional equipment. The university which fails to recog- 



LIBRARY OF COJJGRESS 

,, 028 344 701 7 

— 24 



nize this necessity, whatever its age, will lose its opportunity while 
those who see it, and act upon it, however young, will carry the 
future in their hands. 

If the alumni do their part, the State will do its part; and the 
proud preeminence of the University will be maintained. What- 
ever happens, the president, like the Roman seaman, may be trusted 
to hold the rudder true. May all the congratulatory words of these 
joyful days only gladden his heart, and inspire him for yet many, 
many years of the same noble work. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



028 344 701 7 # 



u^il;««.»v P/ 



